Roy’s. A chain. From Hawaii. Serving fusion Asian cuisine. This could be a nightmare. Nearly a decade ago, Roy’s served as a send off meal. All I remember was the affable server who sat us 30 minutes before closing and a rather forgettable fish in addition to the infamous miso fish. The next morning brought about a 2000 mile road trip to Chi-town (ugh, nobody says that, really, EVER) and a doggy enthanasia.

A lot has changed since. Roy’s gained new credible local chef de cuisines; people got really tired of tuna tartares; downtown Los Angeles became hospitable, almost. Roy’s became.. rather tasty?

In this decade, Roy’s offers an empire-wide fashionable prix fixe for $36. It’s sorta seasonal, and still sports some of Roy’s faves. Last January, this prix fixe brought about rock tempura shrimp, a braised short rib, and the infamous molten lava cake. It was all rather tasty, in a No-Expectations-Just-Have-A-Great-Time-On-A-Sunday-Night sorta way. Even the regular menu items, specifically the smoked potato soup and the fried calamari, were very palatable. Coupled with the extremely affable server, despite on a rather tranquil (read: slow) night – so sorry the Hawaii martini was tipped on the table — Roy’s did no wrong that evening, even if the short ribs and the “Asian vegetable” (Bok Choy) were both extremely evocative of Chinese food.

Finally, the kicker: Aloha Hour: Sun-Fri 4:30-6:30pm, 9pm-close. A few other DTLA institutions offer the late night happy hour: Morton’s, the atrocity that is McCormick & Shmick’s, Big Wang, Swirl, Wokano, etc. However, none offers the light Asian/Hawaiian/Fusion fare as Roy’s. At 11pm, you can still get drunk, then get your ceviche on at the bar. There might be no one there when it is not a game night at Staple’s, but it won’t cost you indigestion and 1000 extra calories.

NB: Want to thank Alison at Formula PR for the GC, it was a great help.